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SLAVA UKRAINI, SLAVA BOGU!
#April 2022
“It's been a wonderful, yet difficult month since Ukrainian refugees began making their way to Croatia. As many of you know, our church has been home to two Ukrainian families who fled Crimea and came to Croatia four and a half years ago. They have been our major contact point to the Ukrainian refugees that we are currently aiding; aid that has been made possible because of your prayers and financial support. 
WE BEGAN WITH ONE VACATION HOME

The first refugees that made their way to us were family members of our Ukrainian church members and they stayed in their homes until we could find them apartments.
Then requests began flooding in for help and we began looking for places to house more. One of our members offered a vacation home an hour outside of Zagreb and we placed the next 8 refugees in that home.
WE FOUND A NURSING HOME FOR RENT...

…that had 21 beds. We rented it and that very next week it was completely full, yet more requests were coming in. Could you pick up 5 more at the border? There are 8 more coming to the border! A few times a week someone would take a drive (many times filling their car with humanitarian aid for Ukraine for the trip over and filling it with people for the trip back). 
THE HOTEL

We could not find another rental suitable for the number of Ukrainians that we needed to house, but a hotel nearby was willing to offer free rooms to us with meals provided, and we began putting them up there.  
A CRY FOR HELP FROM FACEBOOK

One family contacted us through Facebook’s Messenger asking if we could help them with clothes and food. Since they live near by Bonnie’s sister, Rosilind, we asked her to stop by and see who they were and what needs they had. Rosilind called us back very concerned. Two Ukrainian brothers were living with their families in a worker’s dorm with men who were employed at a sawmill. One of the brothers had come over last year because the sawmill had employed him. He has a wife and two small children and is working for less than $3 an hour! Each family of four lives in a small room with one bed and one other mattress on the floor. They share a communal bathroom, showers, and kitchen with the workers. We are currently helping these families, as well. 
LOGISTICS

Most of the 60 refugees who have come over, have arrived with simply the clothes on their backs and possibly a backpack or a small bag. They have nothing and most have no money because no one is taking or exchanging rubles. They need everything: food, clothing, shoes, jackets, hygiene products, makeup, hair dryers, toys for the children… One had her eyeglasses break on the way over. A couple have arrived in their own cars, but most have no transportation or the money to buy gas if they did have transportation.

We, with the aid you and many others have sent, are helping them get set up for life again here in Croatia. We are registering them for refugee status which gives them rights to find work, social healthcare, and schooling for their children. We are also registering them with the Red Cross because this gives them rights to governmental financial aid.

We have them enrolled in a free online language course three days a week which was set up by the government for the refugees. We are helping them look for jobs and have rented a van for a month so that we can transport them to job interviews, interviews with the police, take them to doctor’s appointments, move them into apartments when they get themselves settled, ect.

However, all of this is costing much more than we initially expected. Their needs are much greater than we anticipated, and we did not expect to be handling 60 refugees with more wanting to come over all the time. It is way too much work for our coordinators, Daniel and Gris Behin, so we are actively looking for a second person who will be able to assist them. 
GETTING SETTLED

One huge testimony is that we’ve already helped our first Ukrainian family find work and an apartment and they will be moving out of the house with 21 beds!

Please be praying with us. The logistics are tricky. Most Croatian families need both parents working to be able to make ends meet, but these Ukrainian families have had to leave their husbands back home to fight in the war. One of our families has already lost their husband/father to the war. Finding a job that will pay well enough to make ends meet on their own with Croatian being their 2nd language seems impossible, especially at a time when Croats themselves are having a hard time finding work. But our God loves impossible situations! 
A TRUE BLESSINGS

We have found these Ukrainian sisters to be such a blessing to our church. They are so thankful for everything that they do have and many of them were faithful leaders in their churches in Ukraine. This addition to our church has given us so much joy and our people have truly enjoyed the opportunity to help and serve them in anyway way they can.
 
Thank you all for your selfless giving this past month. It is amazing to see the amount of support you’ve given toward Ukraine. Please continue to pray for them and us.

Blessings to you all and Happy Easter!

Mario & Bonnie Ducic
Croatian Evangelistic Outreach